Till Death Do Us Part
by Mako Headrush
Summary: As friends gather together to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Reno and Cloud, an unexpected tragedy befalls one of them. How will they cope and move on? Established RenoxCloud pairing; warnings for language, and character death.


**Usual disclaimer: Don't own the FF characters but wish I did. This has been written for fun and not profit.**

**I had a bit of a rough week, and use writing as therapy. Unfortunately this means that my muses will suffer! **

* * *

Finally, after everything Cloud and Reno had been through, everything was coming together for them. Sephiroth had been defeated - twice - Meteor had been stopped, geostigma all but eradicated thanks to the Aerith's intervention from beyond this mortal coil. Two former enemies - now lovers - stood on the edge of forever, ready to join their lives together.

It was at Seventh Heaven where they were all now gathered, friends from both near and far, all had come together to celebrate Cloud's upcoming wedding to Reno. Conspiciously absent were Reno and Rude, though Cloud knew that both men were on assignment today, out in the field on a mission. Tseng, though he tried not to show it, was mildly concerned when an hour later, Reno and Rude were still not there. He glanced at his watch, then exchanged a glance with Elena. "Call Rude's cell phone, please," Tseng murmured quietly, not wanting to draw any attention or worry anyone.

"Right away, sir," Elena replied, just as clandestinely, stepping away from the crowd to make the phone call.

"Bet he got cold feet, eh, Spikey!" Barret shouted good-naturedly, clapping Cloud on the back. Cloud gave him a glare, then a bit of a rueful smile. He knew the man meant well, and Barret, like the rest of Cloud's friends, had finally accepted his relationship with Reno when they saw how much the Turk meant to the Planet's hero.

"Barret...he probably just got delayed, is all," Cloud said dismssively. "Besides, the wedding's not until next week. This is just a chance for us all to get together, is all."

"Since you wouldn't let me throw you a shower!" Tifa cut in, teasing. Cloud chuckled along with her.

"Tifa...men don't have wedding showers," Cloud argued, relaxing into a grin as he settled back into the corner booth. He felt happy, his heart was full, surrounded by friends as he anxiously awaited Reno's return from work.

"Of course they do!" Tifa shot back, grinning. "Never mind, I registered you guys myself, so everyone knows where to buy your gifts. Your wedding registry is at the Mercantile - "

"Wedding registry?" Cloud echoed, shaking his head as he chuckled. "Tifa...I appreciate the thought, but don't I get to have any input?" A blast of cold air drew everyone's attention toward the front of the bar as the door flew open, and there stood Rude, soaked in blood not his own.

"Rude?" Elena was the first to spring to her feet; though Rude's eyes were still obscured by his ever-present dark glasses, there was something in his body language and stance that told her something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

"Where's Reno?" Elena asked, dropping her voice to a whisper.

Cloud stood, his entire body gone numb with a sense of foreboding; he moved as if in a dream until he was standing in front of Rude, unable to speak; he just stood in front of Rude, the question Elena had just uttered was written all over his face.

"Cloud...I'm so sorry," Rude murmured, his voice cracking. He took off his sunglasses and pocketed them; Rude's eyes looked tired and sad. Vincent was at his side in a flash; the gunman knew, of course, that Cloud would not take this news well, and he worried about what it would take out of Rude to deliver such news about his partner.

Cloud blinked three times, not seeming to hear what had been said; he was silent for a good thirty seconds before speaking again. "Rude...explain. Sorry about what? Where is Reno?" Some part of Cloud already knew the answers to those questions, but he needed to hear for himself, that dreadful confirmation of his greatest fears.

"It just happened, and was very sudden...I couldn't get to a phone, lost my cell during the attack, and I thought it'd be faster to deliver the news in person, and...well...I owe that much to Reno, I figured," Rude explained, swallowing hard.

The bar fell silent; nobody had ever heard Rude say more than a few words at a time, and given the gravity of the message, nobody could bring themselves to speak. Tifa stood by Cloud, her hand squeezing his arm, tears catching on her thick eyelashes.

"Tell me," Cloud said hoarsely, grinding his teeth and clenching his jaw so hard it caused a pain to shoot through his head. "Tell me!"

"Reno was killed in the line of duty," Rude said flatly, sagging against the bar, muffling a sob with his fist as he let the grief hit him like a punch to the gut. It still didn't seem real to him, that his partner was gone, but now that he'd delivered the news, it solidified the horrible reality of it all.

"No...no, he can't be...he promised me, that he'd always come home to me," Cloud murmured, shaking his head. "Always."

"Rude...where is he now?" Tseng asked softly, putting a hand on Rude's shoulder. He, too, was stunned into shocked silence, which was soon broken as Barret slammed his gun-arm into the wall. Everyone turned and stared.

"SHIT!" The big man growled, then hung his head low, heartbroken for Cloud, who'd finally found love, only to lose it so quickly. "Shit, Cloud...man...I'm so sorry." He turned to Rude, eyes narrowing. "We get the motherfuckers who did this, Rude, and I ain't takin' no for an answer."

"Indeed we will," Tseng cut in, his voice clipped and firm. "Rude...fill us in on our way, we will need to avenge this."

"On our way to where?" Cloud asked, clearly puzzled. Elena burst into tears, and threw her arms around the grief-stricken hero.

"Oh, Cloud!" Elena cried out, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "We are going...to see Reno. To say goodbye."

Cloud made a strangled sound, like a wounded animal, and half-fell against Tifa. "You mean...he's really dead? Reno is dead? He can't be. He can't be gone. You guys are pulling my leg. It's a shitty joke, though...really, in bad taste," Cloud added, glaring at Rude.

"It's no joke, Cloud," Rude said firmly. "I would never joke about something like this. Reno is being transported to the morgue - "

"I'm going now," Cloud said flatly, his eyes gone dead and cold. He stalked toward the door, not even making eye contact with anyone. Vincent was outside keeping pace with Cloud just a moment later, and placed himself between the grieving hero and Fenrir.

"No, Cloud," Vincent said authoritatively. "You're not driving. One of the Turks will drive you...I will ride along with you, if you wish."

"I want to go now!" Cloud shouted, frustrated tears springing to his eyes. His face grew hot; he knew he sounded like a child having a tantrum, but feeling so utterly helpless made him angry. Angry at himself, that he hadn't been there; angry at Reno, for going off and dying like that; angry at fate, for allowing this to happen.

Tseng motioned to a large black sedan parked curbside near the Seventh Heaven. "Here, Cloud," he said softly, opening the door. "Get in...I will drive you there, Rude and Elena as well. The others..."

"We'll catch up to you, Cloud!" Tifa called out from the open door of the bar, tears running down her face. "I'm going to close up...but we'll be there right after you."

Cloud nodded, that feeling of numbness and surrealness washing over him again as he got into Tseng's vehicle. "Okay..."

* * *

The morgue was cold and silent, much too reminiscent of the labs of the Shinra mansion for both Vincent and Cloud's liking, and both visibly shuddered as they entered the room. The medical examiner on duty nodded at the Turks assembled there, and Vincent and Cloud. Silently, he moved over to the row of freezers and opened the door, pulling out a tray. Reno's clothing had already been removed; a white sheet covered the still-warm body, small spots of crimson dotting the once-pristine sheet. The body had been washed, the eyelids closed shut by the medical examiner. What Cloud wouldn't give to look into those eyes just one more time.

"He's..." Cloud shook, unable to articulate his thoughts, or bring himself to finish the sentence. He's dead...Reno is really dead.

Cloud's shoulders sagged as he approached the body, once so full of life and vigor. His hand reached for Reno's, and he flinched at how cold it already felt, so utterly alien and lifeless. Rigor mortis was starting to set in, the muscles and joints stiffening.

"...I want to be alone for a minute, guys," Cloud told his friends, who silently nodded. The medical examiner brought over a stool for Cloud and murmured his condolences.

"I am very sorry for your loss, Mister Strife," the coroner told him before taking his leave. "The body will remain in status until such time as Reno returns to the Lifestream."

Cloud stared at the white-coated man blankly, turning back toward his lover's corpse after the room was empty.

"Reno..." Cloud began, his voice breaking. "This just doesn't - seem real. I don't want it to be real. We had it all...finally had it all, and now..." Cloud's lips drew back in a snarl, and his fist flew out, punching at the metal wall behind him.

"_And now I have nothing!_ You're gone...you're really, really gone...right before our wedding. You know, Reno, your timing really sucks," Cloud said with a bitter laugh. He stubbornly fought back the tears that were lining the edges of his sandy blond lashes.

_**You're never alone, Spikey. You know that, right? We're always gonna be with you.**_

"...Zack?" Cloud raised his tear-stained face to the heavens. "Zack...but why? Why...do I keep losing everyone I love? Am I cursed?" He heard Zack's pleasant laugh, a gentle echo on the wind.

_**You're not cursed, Cloud. It's just a rough world we live in...and sometimes good people are taken before it's time. **_

"Like you," Cloud replied, leaning forward on the stool. "You died because of me. And so did Aerith..."

**_Don't do that, Cloud. Don't blame yourself. Rude...he's doing the same thing right now, blaming himself for Reno's death. And it's not his fault, any more than it was your fault that I died, or that Aerith died. Sometimes things just happen. _**

"But...why can I talk to you and Aerith, but not Reno?" Cloud questioned, feeling irrationally hurt.

**_Because he's just as stubborn as you, Cloud. His spirit hasn't returned to the Lifestream yet. He's holding on...trapped in that body, out of his love for you, Cloud. _**

"He's...he's in here?" Cloud said eagerly, digging through his pockets. "Maybe - maybe if I give him a phoenix down - ?"

**_It's too late for that, Cloud. I'm sorry. But you can still help him, you know. Tell Reno it's okay to cross over...that it's okay to come home, to return to the Lifestream. _**

"But it's not okay!" Cloud protested. "It is _not_ fucking okay!" Cloud swore he could hear Zack sighing after his outburst.

**_And if you don't, Cloud? If you don't let him go, just the way he's not letting you go? He'll be a prisoner in that body. A body that is too injured, too broken to support life. Cloud...I know it hurts. I've been there. I wanted so badly to stay with you, to see that you'd make it to Midgar okay. But you know what? As I lay there dying, I realized...that you would be okay. That you were strong enough then to make it. And you're strong enough now. You just need to let yourself be. And to let Reno know it's okay. _**

Cloud wept, resting his head on Reno's chest; it felt concave, where a hole had been blown through it by a high level ultima spell. Cloud wondered who had gotten such hard-to-find materia to launch such an attack, and vowed then and there that he would find out. He rested his head in the hollow where Reno's heart had been until it was blown into bits.

"I love you, Reno," Cloud said brokenly, clutching at the cold hands of his lover. "I will...always love you. But...I can't be selfish and keep you here, Zack's right. Go on...go to the light, Reno. Go to it." The words Cloud uttered left him exhausted physically, and emotionally, and his head sank back onto Reno's chest as he sobbed quietly.

After a few moments like that, a soft green glow began emanating from beneath the sheet. Cloud opened his eyes and sat up, drawing back as the sheet lifted from Reno's body. The dead Turk's eyes shot open, glowing aquamarine fire as they seemed to settle upon Cloud. A smile worked the face that was motionless just moments ago.

**_Cloud...my Cloud. You know I don't wanna leave...I don't wanna be without you!_**

"But you can't stay, Reno," Cloud argued softly. He looked up at Reno - what was left of him - floating over the bed. The Lifestream swirled around him, sealing the mortal wounds on his body, making him whole again, unscathed.

**_I know I can't. But...you love me enough to let me go, Cloud. It hurts, it just fuckin' hurts, not being able to touch you -_**

"It hurts me too," Cloud whispered, reaching out a hand to touch Reno, but all he could feel was a warm wisp of air. "More than you'll ever know."

**_You loved me enough to let me go_**, Reno repeated. He summoned all of his spirit energy and wrapped his ethereal form around Cloud.**_ And that...is the greatest gift of all._**

Cloud closed his eyes and inhaled, breathing in the warm air. He could almost smell Reno in the light breeze that circulated around him.

**_I'll always be with you now. Maybe not the way you want, or the way that I want...but I'm here. Always._**

Cloud sniffled and sighed. "I wonder what was the point? Why even bother falling in love, if it got cut short like that?"

**_What was the point? The point, dear Cloudy, was that you and I got over all those times we tried to kill each other, and found something beautiful with each other. I wouldn't trade one minute of our time together, Cloud, short as it was. Not one fucking minute._**

"Neither would I," Cloud admitted. "It's just...this is going to take me a while to get over. Actually, I don't think I ever _will_ get over this...over losing you."

**_I wouldn't expect you to. I'm not entirely happy about this dying bullshit either, you know._**

Cloud laughed in spite of his sadness. "I'm sure you're not," he said dryly. "Gods, Reno...just...promise me, when my time comes? That you'll be there...that you won't forget me?"

**_How in the hell could I ever forget you, Cloud? A love like that...it's eternal. I'll be right here waiting for you. But...do me a favor, yeah?_**

Reaching out his fingers, trying to grab a hold of that which he could not, Cloud nodded, a rueful expression on his face. "Whatever you want, Reno...I'll do it."

_**Take your sweet-assed time getting back to me, okay? It's not your time yet.**_

"It shouldn't be yours, either," Cloud shot back, frowning.

**_Maybe not, but it is what it is, yo. Always gonna love you, Cloud...in this life and the next, and the one after that. _**

"I love you too, Reno," Cloud whispered as Reno's corporeal form burst into a thousand points of light, his hand reaching up toward some unseen force.

**_I see them, Cloud. I see Zack, and Aerith, Angeal...they're calling me home, babe. They're calling me home._**

"Goodbye, Reno," Cloud whispered. "Goodbye."


End file.
